World-renowned expert says Albion Bridge doesn't need to be replaced

Just when Albion residents were preparing to suffer years of traffic delays and grudgingly go along with Caltrans' plans to tear down both their Highway 1 bridges, a leading expert has come to town with a simple message:

Stop! Wait!

Dr. Hassan Astaneh, UC Berkeley professor of structural and bridge engineering, contradicted or seriously questioned every reason Caltrans has given to replace the Albion River or Salmon Creek bridges at an Albion Community Advisory Board event at the Ledford House on Aug. 5.

Astaneh said he "loves" the tall wooden Albion River Bridge and called it a historic treasure that should be saved for future generations.

"My conclusion is that there is absolutely no engineering or economical reasons to replace the Albion River Bridge. As I have shown in [an extensive report], the arguments that Caltrans has made to justify the replacement do not hold up to engineering and scientific scrutiny," Dr. Astaneh said.

The professor, sought around the world for advice about bridges and bridge collapses, was hired by local property owner John Danhakl to give an independent assessment of the two bridges and Caltrans' plans to replace them. Astaneh repeatedly emphasized his findings were preliminary, although he felt strongly enough to present them publicly and "start the conversation."

Game changer?

Caltrans had the community nearly sold on the need to replace both bridges. Not now. All of the 10 people queried by this reporter after the Astaneh lecture had changed their minds to some degree. All were surprised by the speech. Many await Astaneh's final report and plan to do more of their own research. Most were also irked at Caltrans for presenting what now looks like a one-sided case.

"Prof. Astaneh's analysis of the Albion and Salmon Creek bridges was a breath of freedom in a self- interested Caltrans money machine," said Bernie Macdonald of Albion.

"His objective, scientific and practical overview brought me to a place of appreciation for UC technology ethics and new hope in a brighter future for California infrastructure and community responsibility."

Astaneh's lecture was also a discussion of the ethical responsibilities engineers have as professionals. Astaneh was clearly offended by a Caltrans video showing the Japanese tsunami, saying the situations were not comparable and its use raised serious ethical questions.

"I walked out of the meeting on a cloud with my local friends and neighbors — glowing. Time to apply that same caring logic to our forests — and planets," Macdonald said.

Frank Demling, the Caltrans executive/surveyor in charge of both bridge replacement projects was in the audience, but had specified he would not interrupt or speak to allow Astaneh to make his case.

Caltrans to respond

Demling will be at the Thursday, Aug. 28 meeting of the Albion Community Advisory Board meeting with plans to discuss Astaneh's and other community questions.

"As noted by Prof. Astaneh during his presentation, his report is an informal draft based on limited information collected from a few weeks of online research and a three-hour field review the day of the presentation. Nonetheless, now that Caltrans is aware of the Professor's thoughts, we will consider them in the normal and appropriate course as we progress towards a final project report," Demling said.

Although it would be hard to find two men more polite than Demling and Astaneh, the lecture included some strong criticism of Caltrans and left some serious questions to answer for both.

"We finally have an engineer of indisputably high repute supplying hard data and clear conclusions that refute what Caltrans has been telling us for years, i.e., how urgently we need to replace the Albion River Bridge," said Tom Wodetzki of Albion, one of the leaders in the community effort that has been responding to Caltrans through the CAB.

"All we've heard up until now is how both bridges must be replaced ASAP, and yet Dr. Astaneh concluded the opposite and clearly and succinctly gave the facts on which he based his conclusion," said Wodetzki.

Astaneh had plans to be on the coast all this week and spend three or four full days on, under and above both bridges. He hopes to get access to the catwalks for study.

Astaneh went through each Caltrans reason for replacing the bridge point by point (see related story). He showed that Caltrans is stretching in using terms like "structurally deficient" and "functionally obsolete," which sound much worse than they are. He said more information was needed for serious issues, such as seismic safety questions, deck deterioration on both bridges and the fracture critical classification of both bridges, which means that if one crucial part is broken during a traumatic event, the entire bridge can fail. He also said there are fixes for each problem which are less costly than building a new bridge.

Another issue is that local residents have only recently found that tearing down the Albion River Bridge would create a new kind of environmental catastrophe, as all the wood would be deemed hazardous waste, have to be trucked a long distance and buried in a plastic-sealed landfill. Caltrans says the bridge presents no environmental issues while in place.

One problem with Astaneh's criticisms is that while each item he listed might be fixable as he says, the cumulative cost of all of them — deck, rail upgrades, fracture critical work, compression rings and seismic fixes — still could well be enough to demand replacement, as Caltrans says.

The Salmon Creek bridge's sufficiency rating is lower and its reports gloomier than those on Albion River Bridge, which has one of the highest sufficiency ratings of all the coast bridges. Much more goes into sufficiency ratings than any other Federal Highway Administration numbers, past research by this reporter shows.

Caltrans' reputation

Astaneh said this project was a chance for Caltrans to show how it could do things right. So far, Caltrans has taken an uncharacteristically open and inclusive approach. That good start of Demling and others fostering a genuine community conversation could be expanded to include an interpreter, Astaneh said.

He praised the community and Caltrans for being so willing to work together before any final decisions have been made about the bridge.

"If it is just the community and Caltrans, the community does not know what Caltrans is saying and Caltrans might exaggerate a little bit," he said, pointing out that the agency has vested interests in creating jobs and pushing construction.

"The best is if the community, Caltrans and an independent consultant can work together," he said.

He praised recent efforts by Caltrans to be inclusive and indicated Caltrans' past ratings near the bottom of the nation, spending more money per mile than 48 other states and having the 47th best performance record.

"I'm very saddened to learn that, according to the '20th Annual Report on the Performance of State Highway Systems,' which is a comprehensive 2013 report by Emeritus Professor David T. Hartgen that provides the latest fact-based data on performance of state highway systems, including roads and bridges, for all 50 states and ranks the states on how efficiently they spend highway funds, Caltrans ranks near the very bottom: 49th in disbursing the highest amount per mile of transportation funds, and is ranked 47th in worse overall performance of its highway system," said Wodetzki.

Caltrans is internationally famous for debacles like the Bay Bridge coming in wildly over budget at $6.4 billion and several bridge projects and phases starting at a few hundred million and ending up billions over budget. Caltrans' showdown with protestors over the Willits bypass has delayed the project and heavily used the California Highway Patrol.

In Mendocino County, Caltrans spent a year trying not to remove thick, oozing asphalt from near the bank of the Navarro River, as documented in stories by this reporter. They ended up doing the project twice, an obvious waste of taxpayers' money.

California spent $679, 296 per mile per year in the most recent data, 49th, but still well behind New Jersey, which spent $1.2 million per mile per year. Some of this data is political. Governors intent on not working with Washington, D.C., mean less money for their state. States like North and South Carolina made do with less than $50,000 per mile.

"This is truly disheartening, that in this supposedly progressive, high tech state our highway department is performing so poorly and wasting so many taxpayers' dollars," Wodetzki said.

Questions remain

Among the questions Albion residents have asked and now really want answers for are: why doesn't Caltrans consider using better bolts and paint, and what is really the story with the two bridge decks and the fracture critical issue?

Astaneh said some states routinely post bridge inspection reports. Getting those from Caltrans has been arduous in the past for this reporter, with much of the report redacted for national security. However, in this process Caltrans has produced not only inspection reports, but also internal studies and memos about the two bridges, often several inches thick.

Among the mountains of documents produced by Caltrans is the script of the 1944 dedication, which documents the innovative construction of the bridge despite incredible wartime restriction. More fittingly than anyone then could have realized, with 1,500 spectators looking on, Mendocino County Pioneer Marian Haarby cut a cord made of hemp to open the bridge built by contractor Maurer and Son which cost a staggering $350,000. The new bridge replaced a badly rotting old wooden bridge with the current one made of "salt treated fir," after extensive efforts to get redwood were unsuccessful.

A 1944 inspection report produced by Caltrans shows the original inspection found checking on some timbers extending as far as a quarter of the way inside. The inspector certified the bridge was good for use in every way for "more than 15 years."